Without their two most prolific 3-point shooters during the regular season, the Los Angeles Lakers had another option at hand.
Luke Kennard, acquired in early February from the Atlanta Hawks, was 5 for 5 on 3-pointers and finished with 27 points — more than he had in any regular-season game this season — in the Lakers’ 107-98 win over the Houston Rockets in Game 1 of their first-round series.
The Rockets’ last lead came just 1:01 into the game, when Amen Thompson converted on a layup to make it 4-2. Kennard buried his first shot on the next Lakers possession, and the Rockets were reduced to pushing the boulder uphill the rest of the way.
LeBron James scored 19 points and had 13 assists — 10 in the first half.
The Rockets were without Kevin Durant, who suffered a knee injury in practice Wednesday and was ruled out shortly before tipoff. The team hopes he will be able to play in Tuesday’s Game 2.
The Lakers, meanwhile, were without Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, both of whom last played April 2.
Here are our immediate takeaways from Game 1 in Los Angeles:
LeBron dissected the Rockets as a … passer?
The question in coaches’ offices across the NBA for the better part of two decades when facing LeBron James has always been centered around the way he could do the most damage. How does he hurt you most — as a scorer or a passer?
That conversation faded over the past two seasons as the Lakers handed over the keys to Reaves and Dončić on the offensive end. But with James back atop the scouting report for the first round of the playoffs, you got to believe Houston would rather see James take it more upon himself to put the ball in the basket. Instead, he dissected them as a passer.
James’ 10 first-half assists — eight in the first quarter — set the stage for a balanced Lakers’ attack, one that consistently generated clean looks off the attention he drew. He finished with 19 points, but it was the 13 assists that did the real damage. — Dan Woike, Lakers writer
Alperen Şengün has to be better
With Kevin Durant’s surprising absence in Game 1, it was no secret that a lot would fall on Şengün’s shoulders to keep the Rockets’ offense afloat.
Houston’s All-Star center already does a lot for his team as an offensive hub and a high-volume post scorer. But without Durant, it was time for him to show he can step up and play like a superstar in a game his team needed him to be the tone-setter.
Instead, he was mostly absent on Saturday night. In the Rockets’ 107-98 loss to LA, Sengun had 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists, which doesn’t look terrible on paper. But he shot 3 of 14 from the field after the first quarter and he couldn’t do enough to take advantage of the Lakers’ center combo of Deandre Ayton and Jaxson Hayes.
Houston’s horrid spacing and uneven point guard play from Reed Sheppard — who shot 6-of-20 from the field himself — certainly didn’t help. But Şengün has to be better than this. Even if Durant plays, the Rockets can’t afford to have their second-best player be such a non-factor. The Rockets depend on their top guys to create offense more than most teams, and Şengün has proven throughout his career that he’s capable of being dominant with his passing vision and his scoring around the basket.
As much as the Rockets need Durant back in Game 2, they need the real Şengün back just as much. — Will Guillory, Rockets writer
Luke Kennard had 27 points, and was a perfect 5-for-5 from 3. (Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
Kennard chaos
There’s a scene in Moneyball where Brad Pitt, as Oakland GM Billy Beane, gathers his scouts and executives around the table and then lays it out plainly: you don’t replace stars with one player — you replace them in the aggregate.
That became the Lakers’ reality after the late-season injuries to Reaves and Dončić. But in Saturday’s Game 1, the player most impacted by those absences stepped into his opportunity, and absolutely starred.
Kennard wasn’t acquired to handle this kind of load — not this often, not in these moments — even if coaches insist they knew he could. Yet with the Lakers’ backcourt depleted, Kennard stepped into a primary ballhandling role and thrived against Houston’s pressure.
He handled Amen Thompson’s pressure as well as anyone could have hoped, finishing 9 for 13 from the field and knocking down three massive 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. — Woike
The Rockets need Durant back ASAP
When Durant took the floor to test his ailing knee approximately two hours before tipoff, you didn’t have to access the medical records to know that he was hurting. It was written all over his face.
According to several people who watched his routine, his frustration with the brutally-timed situation was impossible to miss. Durant, who played in 78 games during the regular season and has long had a reputation for being willing to play through a fair amount of pain, was clearly coming to grips with the fact that he’d have to sit this playoff opener out. After banging knees with a teammate during practice on Wednesday, then surely hoping the injury wouldn’t linger too long, observers said he was not moving well during the session. He was ruled out soon thereafter.
The question now, of course, is whether the two off-days before Game 2 on Tuesday will be enough time to get him back on the floor. As the regular season showed — and Game 1 confirmed — these Rockets desperately need him.
At 37-years old and 18 seasons in, Durant was one of five players to average at least 26 points, five rebounds and four assists this season (along with Jaylen Brown, Luka Dončić, Nikola Jokić and Giannis Antetokounmpo). He was the Rockets’ best player by a sizable margin, with the Rockets surging in recent weeks (nine wins in 10 games to close) before finishing fifth in the West.
But this was the time when the choice to trade for him last summer was supposed to pay off. Instead, the Rockets — who shot an atrocious 37.6 percent overall and scored in double-digits for just the fifth time all season — must now endure three days of angst before learning if he can return soon enough to save the day. — Sam Amick, senior NBA writer
Kevin Durant watched Game 1 from the Rockets’ bench on Saturday. (Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
Short-handed isn’t an excuse
Don’t overreact to Game 1s. The Rockets sure won’t — not with Durant missing the opener with a right knee contusion.
With that said, injuries don’t excuse poor performance. Too often, the conversation swings to who isn’t playing, as if stars are the entire game. They’re not. And in this one, both teams still had an All-Star available.
The Lakers got an All-Star performance from LeBron James, who piled up eight first-quarter assists, finished with a double-double and repeatedly bulldozed defenders via the post. The Rockets did not get the same from Şengün, who struggled to score efficiently or take care of the ball.
Role players matter more when stars are out. The Lakers got that lift from Luke Kennard, who delivered his best scoring night as a Laker — and in the playoffs. The Rockets didn’t get a comparable response.
Then there’s the sideline. JJ Redick had his group ready, even if the Lakers loosened their grip late in each half. Ime Udoka had less time to adjust without Durant, but Houston never found its poise — not with a third-quarter unraveling that included technical fouls for both Udoka and Jae’Sean Tate.
An injury changes the equation. It shouldn’t change the standard.
Credit the Lakers for being ready to play. And until Durant and Dončić return — which could make this a long series — the expectation remains the same: pros step up and perform like it. — Law Murray, NBA writer